Scans, 3D

Still looking at Shapeways...

If I make a small sculpture, what's the easiest way to scan it to get a digital 3D file of it, ready for 3D printing?

Cubular robots??

Article.

Little cubes which can join with others, and even jump, without external moving parts! Now this is fresh.

Cthulhu board game

Cthulhu board game.

Reader Bert found this, and in his function as an engineer, he comments:

It may not be obvious at first, but 3D printing is the only way to make the game pieces shown in that article. At least some of the pieces are impossible to mold, no matter what technique would be used. And those pieces that could be molded would end up being very expensive because they would have to be made as multiple parts, each part requiring a complex and expensive mold, and then assembled by hand.
But since we're not talking of your typical 10$ board game, 3D printing is a viable option even for production (a single 25K$ printer could make a few dozen pieces every day).
True mass-production of the game would require the pieces to be greatly simplified and reduced in size; that certainly would no longer be art...
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Melted Wood Sculptures by Bonsoir Paris

Melted Wood Sculptures by Bonsoir Paris, post.

I wonder how the heck they worked the wood, not the least to produce the long, thin parts.

Motion induced blindness

An interesting optical illusion.

3D printing for art

Anybody into 3D printing?
I want to look into using 3D printing for making small art objects.
The result should be reasonably durable, of course. And printing in colors would be nice too.
Just a rough picture. What’s possible at what price range, maybe naming a specific machine or two.

Admittedly the software side may be a challenge. What I’ve seen of 3D modeling software looked complex, and I’m getting to be an old dog when comes to learning new tricks, my patience is very short. 

Any ideas?

Update:
"Shapeways" has been suggested, and it seems very promising.
The video is impressive. People make some fantastic shapes, some even that would be virtually impossible to make in any other way. (I've heard of those spheres-within-spheres which were somehow carved on bone, but I can't imagine how the frig they were made.)

Here are some cool examples of what people have made.

This modern world

The 10 Stealth Economic Trends That Rule the World Today

The 10 Stealth Economic Trends That Rule the World Today, article.

Since Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president, the price of solar cells has fallen over 99 percent. No, that’s not a typo. And the exponential cost-drop shows no sign of slowing down, with dozens of new technologies in the pipeline. Installation and land costs are falling too. What this means is that in sunny states like Arizona, solar can already compete with fossil fuel electricity even with zero government subsidies. In fact, rooftop solar panels are becoming so popular that utility companies are trying to tax solar power in order to pay for grid maintenance!

Wow. That one could really overturn some power balances.

Victorian PC

[Thanks to Bert]

Datamancer (who built my keyboard) does it again, his best ever.
How would you like a PC which is not just extraordinary, but unique?
It is $14k at least, but that's a fair price for the Victorian Steampunk Computer. (Aution ends Oct 8.)

It's a working machine, but they are waiting with installing the actual PC until sales, in order that it should be up to date.

This is ridiculous, just look at the mouse and mouse-pad:

"The mouse is made from an old morse code telegraph "clacker".  The mouse pad is a custom-built pad with a gold foil map under glass. The main key of the mouse is actually where your wrist would sit and 

the two bolts further back are the mouse buttons."

Just the table alone is amazing, I'd love to have one.
"The table is scratch-built and covered in black leather vinyl with approximately a zillion brass rivets. The table legs are cast-iron legs from an old Singer sewing machine and are built on hinges so they can fold up"

I don't have the space for it, otherwise I'd be tempted! (He could probably put a Mac Mini in it.) But I really hope that this amazing work of art finds a good home, where many people can see it too.